


Broken Crown

by FahriiFeather



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Champion Shiro (Voltron), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Shiro (Voltron), M/M, Physical Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2019-05-08 00:28:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 18,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14682665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FahriiFeather/pseuds/FahriiFeather
Summary: Shiro knows the threat of death is a constant. After a miserably failed mission, that threat becomes more of a reality and the leader of Voltron faces the sudden, imminent reality that success of their goal to defend the universe is not a guarantee.





	1. Touch My Mouth and Hold My Tongue

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place after Shiro returns in season 3, before season 4.
> 
> The paladins are in their original lions.  
> Lotor is not an ally yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recommended audio: Broken Crown - Mumford & Sons

Shiro was 15 when he first believed he was going to die.

Huddled under the covers, his older sister covered his ears to try to drown out the sound. But he could still hear everything going on downstairs. He could still hear the screaming, the name-calling, the accusations. He could hear his mother almost in tears after a nasty sounding slap reverberated through the hallway. He cowered in his sister’s shoulder as she gently whispered Japanese lullabies to soothe him. The noise calmed down, and Shiro believed the worst was over. That was, until he realized he was just in the eye of the storm. The hurricane that was his step-father came pounding down the hallway of their one story apartment, and Shiro felt his sister tighten her grip on him. The door handle twisted and got caught in the lock, but it didn’t deter the man outside. He rattled the handle a few more times before simply slamming his shoulder against the wood with all his force. Shiro pulled the covers over his head, cowering into a ball as his sister put an arm around his shoulders protectively. 

The next few minutes went by in a blur of his mother trying to diffuse the situation and his father nearly succeeding to snap the door in half. Even if he hadn’t known why, Shiro knew that if his father were to succeed in reaching him and his sister, their lives would have for sure been in real danger.

______

Shiro was 20 the second time he thought he would die.

The Garrison didn’t have much luck in the romance department, which is most likely why they so heavily stressed the goals of science and engineering. Shiro knew this going in, and, therefore, did not have high hopes. However, after proving his excellency and soaring above the other students in his academics, he found himself being followed by women flaunting themselves like peacocks in his direction. Matt Holt, his roommate, would consistently laugh and joke around that he wished he was in Shiro’s shoes. Shiro didn’t feel so sure.

Everything came to a head in advanced physics one day in April. Shiro normally had no problem with group projects, but after seeing he had been assigned to work with Kathy Summers his heart dropped. Kathy was possibly the most persistent of the group that followed him around, resorting at times to push Matt out of the way to get to the Japanese man. He internally groaned when she sauntered up to him like a vixen, her hips swaying in a way that disgusted him. Forcing a smile, he passed the worksheet to her as she sat just a little too close to his hip. Throughout the entire process, she touched him every chance she got. He scowled as he saw Matt stifling a laugh and sending him a knowing wink, and took a deep breath before looking back at his own project. Once they had finished the experiment, he’d never been so happy to be away from a person in his life. However, she had other plans, and proved so when she grabbed his tie and pulled him into a kiss. Apparently, this was a spectacle for all the students surrounding them that let out oohs and aahs.

Shiro was more than convinced that the embarrassment that washed over him would make him keel over right then and there, and he wouldn’t have even been upset.

______

Shiro was 24 the third time he knew he would most certainly die.

This time, there were no girls. No step-father pounding on his door. No classrooms that felt too constricting sometimes, and no sister to hold him close. This time, there was only him, Matt, and an arena of sand. Shiro could clearly see, even in the dimming light, that Matt was close to breaking down entirely. The sweat shimmered on his forehead, and his whole body shivered and twitched with a mixture of anticipation and terror. In a split second decision, Shiro bolted forward, grabbing the sword being offered to his friend. Whipping it through the air, he felt immediate remorse as it sliced through Matt’s leg, tearing through fabric, skin, and muscle. He knew it would leave a permanent scar, but if it kept him out of the ring, it was a necessary risk. Occupational hazards, and all that. As he leaned down to tell Matt to find his family, he felt strong hands gripping his upper arms before he was physically thrown onto the rough sand. He pressed his hand into it to steady himself, cringing at the feeling of something wet.

The doors he had been pushed through closed immediately behind him, and he was left with Matt’s scream ringing in his ears. He turned back to see a massive lizard-lion hybrid stalking closer to him. He gripped the sword in his right hand, bending slightly at the knee to brace himself for the defensive moves he knew he’d have to make. On five legs, the creature roared and sprinted forward at speeds Shiro had never seen from any living animal in his life. He knew bracing himself would certainly get him killed, and rolled and ducked at the very last moment. The creature slammed into the wall, instantly shaking itself off and coming after him again. Shiro’s legs burned and his breath was short and choppy as he desperately hid behind one of the large pillars. The Galrans were cheering in the stands, but Shiro had a feeling it wasn’t for him.

He felt and heard the beast sniffing around for him, and knew now that it was either him or it. Taking a deep breath, he let out a cry and ran out from his hiding place. The creature turned its gaze to him, all twelve eyes locked on his head. Crouching, Shiro pulled the sword behind his head, anticipating the leap. However, he wasn’t expecting was for the creature to feint left and twist around to come in at his other side. He had already swung the sword in a downward diagonal motion, driving it into the sand under his feet. He tugged, beginning to panic when it stubbornly refused to dislodge, only shifting a little bit. He turned his head at the sound of paws thundering toward him.

The last thing he remembered was the sight of a large claw coming toward his face, excruciating pain under his eyes, and then nothing.


	2. I'll Never be Your Chosen One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recommended audio: Tommee Profitt - Cruel World

From that moment on, death was always on the forefront of Shiro’s mind. Every day was a fight to survive, whether it be from battles in the arena or simple starvation. When he fought back against the guards, he was lucky to receive the punishment of lack of food. The bad days were when he would be taken to a back room and burned with electricity that felt like fire in his veins. It built up under his eyes, his healing wound flaring up with the heat of the nearby Galran sun. Each torture session left him weak and exhausted, and yet he still did not give up. He did not scream. He would not yield to these creatures. It was his job to survive and get back to Earth…somehow. Humanity had to be warned of the plans he overheard when he pretended to sleep. The Galran race was moving quickly through the galaxy, and Earth was just another tiny conquest in their mission to rule the universe. Whoever this Zarkon person was, he was the ringleader apparently and Shiro decided to make it his personal mission to drive a sword through his heart the moment he got a chance. He would give just desserts for the nights he lie alone in chains, hungry and tired.

Despite being thin and deprived of proper food, Shiro was growing stronger. Under his small frame, a layer of solid muscle began forming as a result of the fights he was sent into. Matt would comment on it at times, trying to lighten the mood with jokes. Shiro told him not to waste his energy. After each fight he came back from, the druids would take him to be healed in chambers that knit his bones back together and fused the skin to the point of minimal scarring. He would somehow always feel worse falling out of the pods. The one wound they had not chosen to heal was the slice across the bridge of his nose. It was a mark of a warrior, they claimed, although Shiro believed more that they forced it to scar badly as a constant reminder to him that they owned him like some sort of wild animal. Maybe he was a wild animal to them after all. They didn’t know what humans were, so he supposed it would make at least a little bit of sense.

The only druid he let himself fear was the master witch. Her electricity hurt the most, and seemed to permeate the deepest into his psyche. Her pure gold eyes burned into his soul, making him feel small and helpless when she turned her gaze toward him. By listening to other Galrans talk around the base, this witch was called Haggar, and he was correct in being afraid. She was Zarkon’s wife, and was unimaginably powerful. The red marks crisscrossing her eyes made her look more sinister than normal, especially when they were lit up by the glow of her eyes. Occasionally she would step in and watch the torture he was put through, often adding her own little flare when he was unruly or disobedient. Shiro could feel her blasts of light draining him of energy, slowly yet surely taking a physical toll on him. During one particular punishment after not giving the Galrans around the arena a compelling enough struggle, he caught a glimpse of himself in the stainless steel surface of the walls around him and was horrified to watch as, each time the lightning hit him, the front fluff of hair turned just a little bit more white.

Yet another permanent marker the Galrans decided to give him. He decided in that room that he would kill each and every one of these monsters once he finished off their leader.

______

Shiro learned quickly to fear Haggar in more ways than one. While she was always looming as a physical threat to him and his health, he found that she would make her way into his mind as well. Nightmares would involve her torturing him even in sleep, and he would awake more exhausted than when he slept, only to be shoved back into the arena with no good sleep and a meager ration of food. One of these times resulted in a gruesome injury that he knew he could not come back from. The claw across the nose was one thing, but it was just a simple claw mark (albeit a large one). This time, he fought against a creature that stood on two legs, with razor sharp fangs and a wolf-like appearance. His mind immediately went to werewolf on steroids, but something about the build didn’t feel wolfish. Shiro settled on wolf-tiger as the combination as it rushed toward him. It’s bulky stature didn’t let it go very fast, and Shiro took that to his advantage. He was much smaller than it, and, therefore, more nimble. Quick on his feet. He slid and ducked and focused mainly on tiring the beast. He knew he risked exhausting himself as well, but it was the best option he could think of.

Unfortunately, he had misjudged just how much energy he had left. His night of virtually no sleep whatsoever corrupted his mind, slowing him down and causing him to waste precious seconds thinking of a plan to continue evading this wolf. This became his downfall, as the beast caught up to him. Without hesitation, it opened its jaws and locked them against Shiro’s right arm. The man couldn’t help but cry out in surprise, which seemed only to egg the creature on. It strengthened its bite to the point that Shiro felt the bones cracking. He screeched, raising the sword with his left hand to bring it down on the furry neck. It sunk halfway down, but did not deter the monster. He lost his grip, as his left arm was less coordinated and weaker, and the wolf hardly batted an eyelash at the blade now protruding from its neck. It only locked its jaws and shook Shiro like a ragdoll. Muscles tore and sinews snapped. Skin ripped apart and nerves caught on fire.

Shiro screamed.

______

The next thing he knew, he was back in his cell. He could feel his prisoner uniform drenched with dried blood, disgusted at how it stuck to his skin and left dark brown marks around him. He was alone, and only registered blank confusion at his situation. He made to brush the white hair from his face, only to be met with something heavy and foreign. It didn’t feel like him. In fact, now that he noticed it, he couldn’t feel much below the upper section of his arm. He looked down and almost vomited. In the purple lights of the Galra ship, bright chrome metal glinted back at him, accented with deep grey joints. He lifted his shirt sleeve to see it was grafted to his flesh, most likely permanently. His flesh ended, and immediately metal began. Scarring and burns surrounded the connection sight, and he felt his eyes water slightly. All he wanted now was his sister next to him to tell him things would be ok, but she wasn’t here. Things wouldn’t be ok again.

_____

A loud gasp struck through the silence as Takashi Shirogane shot up in bed. His breathing ragged, he ran his flesh hand through his hair as he took in his surroundings.

The castle.

His bed.

The calming teal lights outside his room.

A nightmare. That’s all it had been. It wasn’t uncommon for nightmares to haunt him at night, but this one, for whatever reason, was sticking with him uncomfortably easily. He forced himself to take deep breaths, looking down at his arm. The connection point had scarred over, and the horrific burns were only proven by lighter skin running up to his shoulder. Shiro took a breath. Knowing they had a mission the next day, in which Voltron would inevitably be needed, he rested his head back on the pillow, turning over and closing his eyes to try and get a few more hours of sleep.


	3. I'll Be Home, Safely Tucked Away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recommended audio: It Will Come Back - Hozier

Shiro was already up by the time the morning lights came on in the castle. Now bathed in white, he made his way to the main bridge, knowing Allura would already be there. Sure enough, he spotted her with her hands on the controls, manipulating a large celestial map surrounding her. Turning as he cleared his throat in greeting, she smiled lightly in greeting.

“I’ve got intel on the planet we are infiltrating today,” she began.

Shiro walked up the steps to stand by her. “What did you find out?”

Allura zoomed in on one of the planets in her map, presumably the one they would be going to. “The Galra have taken over nearly half of the surface, placing squadrons every ten miliquaints from each other.”

“Miliquaints?”

“According to Pidge, it would be equal to almost one Earth mile.”

Shiro wondered if he would ever figure out the ratios of measurements, but put it out of his mind for now. “So what’s the plan?”

Allura increased the map again, allowing them to see the surface of the planet. Red dots marked where each Galra base was located, making the planet look like a half decorated christmas tree. “Hunk and Lance will be in charge of drilling into the surface with the Yellow Lion to reach the underground explosives the Galra have planted. The lions are equipped with sensors, so Yellow will be able to spot each explosive accurately from above ground. Pidge will be monitoring the lions from above, with her cloaking hiding the Green Lion. She will be working to shut down all Galra security systems so it will be easier when you move in to rescue any prisoners and gain information. Keith will work as a distraction, as the Red Lion is the quickest and most effective in maneuvering. It will be his job to make sure the Yellow Lion is not targeted by nearby bases.”

She then zoomed out a bit to show the atmosphere, which was littered with purple areas. “Each of these markers is a Galra ship. You, Coran and I will stay in the atmosphere and hold them off, as they will be the biggest threat. Our main goal is to target their communication systems, so they will not be able to send warning to those on the ground. The Black Lion will be invaluable in doing this with her wings, as she will be able to take out multiple at a time.”

Shiro was quiet for a moment. “Are you sure this will work?” he finally asked.

“I have the utmost faith in you all,” Allura said. “If there are any threats that this mission will fail, I will be sure to alert you all to fall back and we will try again another day. Rescuing these prisoners is our top priority, and we can always go back later if we are in desperate need of the information that can be gathered by the bases. I’m sure Pidge would be more than happy doing so.”

Shiro nodded, not exactly feeling relieved with the answer, but figuring it wasn’t the worst he could’ve received. “When do we head out?”

Allura looked thoughtful. “A few vargas,” she said. “We will have to wormhole to the system, and from there it will be only a couple dobashes. Coran is on his way to help navigate, and he has already made sure our castle weapons are well equipped.”

Shiro sighed lightly. “I’ll wake the others,” he said. “They’ll need a good breakfast before we get in the lions.” With that, he made his way out of the control room and into the hallways that led to the dormitory rooms. On the way, his mind began to wander. Of course he was nervous about sending his team into a planet almost full of Galran soldiers, but on the other hand he knew they were more than experienced enough and more than willing to handle it. Yellow was reliably armored. Red was easily the most capable of outrunning blasts. Green was completely invisible when cloaked. Realistically, he trusted his team and the connection they had with the huge robots. It was the Galra he was worried about, as well as just how much intel Allura had really gotten. Was it reliable? Who had she gotten it from? He assumed castle databases, but he couldn’t be sure.

Before he could fall deeper down that hole, he reached the paladins’ bedroom doors. Taking a deep breath, he began the process of waking them up and getting them prepared for the day ahead.

_____

Black was the largest lion. This was obvious, and quite fitting for the leading lion of Voltron. Her massive, magnificent red wings folded by her side, and her long steel tail gently swished back and forth at the sight of her paladin approaching her in armor. She leaned down and opened her jaws to allow him entrance, sending her love through their link. Ever since Zarkon had been fully rejected, the pair had grown even closer and it was almost as though Zarkon was never even a paladin in Black’s eyes. The great lion could feel when he was finally defeated once and for all, and could sense her paladin’s overwhelming relief at the same time. However, recently, she’d been feeling a bit of a disconnect with Shiro that she just could not explain.

Shiro noticed it as well at times. As he sat in his chair to head to the base planet, his connection with Black sparked to life. This time, however, there was something missing. He couldn’t place his finger on it, but it made him exceedingly uneasy. He gripped the control sticks and pushed forward, propelling his lion out into deep space. The Yellow, Green, and Red Lions were waiting for him, Blue being the only cat unoccupied and still back on the castle.

“Shiro, are you sure Lance and I should be the ones looking for explosives?” came Hunk’s anxious voice through the communication systems in their helmets. “ ‘Cuz maybe the Black Lion should do it. Or the Red Lion. She’s the fastest!”

“That’s why she needs to be a distraction, Hunk,” Pidge cut in as they made their way into the planet’s system. “You’re gonna be fine.”

“But what if we’re not?” Hunk exclaimed, exasperated. “What if Yellow’s just a big target? What if we accidentally hit an explosive she didn’t see? We could be blown to pieces!”

“Hunk, I swear!” Lance growled from within Yellow. “Buddy, you’re gonna start freaking me out. We’re gonna be fine because Lancey-Lance is on the case! My awesome wits will keep us from being damaged!”

Shiro rolled his eyes. “Ok, Lance,” he said. “Focus.”

“I am focusing,” Lance retorted. “I’m just focusing on reassuring my best friend, my buddy, my pal.”

“Dear God, Lance,” Pidge said, although not unkindly. “Although I must say you gotta be persuasive since even Keith hasn’t said anything.”

Now that she mentioned it, Shiro realized Keith really hadn’t said anything since they exited the hangar doors. The Red Lion was simply flying alongside them in silence.

“Keith?” he asked. “What’s up? What’re you thinking?”

There was a beat of radio silence. Then, “I don’t have a very good feeling about this one.”

“What do you mean?” Hunk asked, yet again beginning to submit to his nerves.

“I dunno,” Keith replied. “It’s just a feeling in my gut, I guess. It feels like we shouldn’t be doing this.”

“Tell your gut to suck it up,” Lance said. “Everything’s gonna be fine. If you wanna be a baby about it, you can turn your lion around. I’m sure Hunk and I will be fine without your constant monologuing of your inner thoughts.”

“Lance,” Shiro said sternly. “Keith is right to be nervous. He’s not turning around because he might end up being the only thing between you and a Galran blaster.” Hunk gulped audibly at that. “Anyway, Keith, I’m sure things are going to be just fine. We know protocol, and we’ve trained for this many times. Allura wouldn’t send us somewhere she felt was unsafe for us.”

“I guess so,” Keith muttered, not sounding sure of Shiro’s answer.

An uncomfortable silence followed, even deterring Lance from making any snarky comments. Before long, they came up to the planet’s atmosphere. Pidge and Coran cloaked the Green Lion and the castle, and Shiro dimmed the lights on his lion. One benefit of his robot being all black was camouflage. They bid good luck to Hunk, Lance, and Keith, and watched as they stealthily made their way down to the planet’s surface. Pidge’s position on the map moved to directly over the first base, and Shiro knew she was already getting fed numbers and combinations from Green that he would never hope to understand. He may have been first in his class, but there was something about the way Pidge could analyze the meaningless data she received that he could just never pick up efficiently.

“Shiro, be sure to lookout for enemy ships,” Allura said from the castle.

“On it, Princess,” he said.

He flew Black slowly through the sky, scanning with her infrared sensors for anything suspicious. After a few minutes, he realized that the most suspicious thing was the lack of things. There was nothing in this planet’s sky, which seemed odd considering the amount of bases on the planet itself. There should be some sort of protection, shouldn’t there? Shiro’s eyes narrowed as he strained to see anything in the jet black open area of space, and he felt Black’s unease creep into his psyche to join his own. Slightly drowning out the conversation between Pidge, Hunk and Lance, he felt strong paranoia settle in his gut. He couldn’t help but think that maybe Keith was right.

Maybe they really shouldn’t be here.


	4. You Can't Tempt Me if I Don't See the Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recommended audio: Cosmic Love - Florence and the Machine

“Princess, is there anything on your scanners?” Shiro asked, thoroughly unnerved.

“According to the castle, there’s no organic lifeforms at all except for you and the others.”

Shiro’s blood ran cold.

“Did Allura just say we’re the only living things here?” Pidge asked. “That doesn’t seem right…”

“Guys, I’m really not sure we should be down here for much longer,” Keith said. “Red’s starting to get nervous.”

“Yellow is, too,” Hunk replied. “We haven’t yet picked up any indication of explosives under the ground. Not any that are still active, anyway.”

“That’s not right,” Allura mused, her tone of voice indicating she was likely re-checking the map and information she’d gotten.

“Allura, where did you get this info?” Shiro asked. His gut told him not to contradict Allura’s authority, but the fear for the safety of his team quickly pushed it down.

“It was in the castle databases,” she said. “Because this planet is so obscure, it took a while to find.”

“Are you sure it’s up to date?”

Allura paused, and Shiro gripped the control sticks harder, preparing to launch Black forward. “I…I’m not sure…”

“Alright team, enough!” Shiro shouted over the comms. With how strong the overwhelming feeling of _bad, bad, bad_ that was likely also a result of the fear in Black for her sisters, he wasn’t going to risk them being down there for another moment.

“Thank God!” Hunk cried, and Shiro watched as Yellow burst from the ground and began the ascent toward him. The Green Lion uncloaked and Pidge and Keith came to hover parallel to Shiro. The Yellow Lion, however, was having trouble gaining altitude.

“Hunk, what’s your status?” Shiro asked.

“I’ve no idea!” Hunk said, clearly distressed. “There’s warnings all over the dash, and Yellow won’t go any faster!”

Shiro turned to address Keith and Pidge, Black’s head moving to each respective lion as he did so. “You guys go back to the castle. Tell Allura and Coran to get a wormhole ready, and I’ll aid Hunk and Lance and get back as quick as I can.”

After Pidge and Keith confirmed the order, Shiro drove Black downward to intercept Yellow. Black’s concern for her yellow pride-mate was evident in the way she brought her paws closer to her body to fall faster. Without warning, she had to sidetrack as a large blast of purple light nearly blew off her left wing. Shiro cried out, his left shoulder painfully colliding with the dashboard as he was thrown from the pilot chair. Reorienting himself, he hopped back in and began taking evasive maneuvers to avoid the sudden onslaught of purple light around him. He could hear Hunk and Lance in the same predicament, and desperately scanned for Yellow’s location. As it turns out, she was much closer to the castle than he was, and he twisted Black to backtrack to the others. He activated Black’s jawblade, ramming into small Galra ships on his way to the castle and tearing through the hulls of others that dared fly in front of him. 

“Princess! Open the wormhole! I’ll be right behind you!” he cried.

“I’m trying, but it’ll take a few dobashes to get enough power!” she replied, clearly upset and strained. 

“We might just have to risk it! We need out of this airspace!” Shiro called back. Black was twisting and turning, but her large size made her more of a target than he would like her to be. She could no longer blend in with the dark sky with the lights flashing around her. Once the castle came into view, he saw the fifth hanger door open for his lion, aiming toward it and pushing the control sticks as hard as he could. He felt Black straining to keep her speed, but she’d been hit too many times by rogue fire blasts to fly at her maximum speed. Shiro promised her through their link he would personally pamper her once this was all over..

To his left, a larger Galra cruiser came into view, its top cannon sparking to life. Shiro twisted his head between it and the castle, and came to the realization that there was no way he would make it to safety in time. He pulled the handles, sending Black soaring off to the right and out of range of the cannon.

“Allura, you have to open that wormhole!” he screeched, feeling a different cannon blast knock into Black’s left flank. All he heard back was static, and he couldn’t help the wave of panic that washed over him. His helmet sensors showed that when Black was hit from the side, it offset the communication abilities, and he was essentially stranded as far as that went. His only hope now was to guide Black to that last hangar door as fast as he could and avoid offensive actions as much as possible to let her transfer all energy to speed. In his peripheral, he noticed a group of small ships approaching him, and knew Black would have to last one more hit before they made it. Mentally bracing himself, he held onto the control sticks for dear life.

He never felt the impact. Instead, he heard the sound of crunching metal and the telltale _whoosh_ of ship remains being thrown into deep space. He turned to see a streak of blue surrounding him as the Blue Lion raced around her older sister.

“Lance! What’re you doing?” he cried, static reminding him that the comms were down. Instead he pushed Black once again toward the castle, Blue following close behind and keeping any ships from coming too close.

He saw a large wormhole forming as Allura prepared the castle to escape once Black and Blue were onboard. It likely wouldn’t take them far, but Shiro prayed it would still be far enough for them all to take a breather. Without warning, a massive Galran cruiser, coming from its own larger wormhole, rammed into the back of the castle. Despite the particle barrier being up, it managed to shove the castle through the wormhole Allura had made, the galaxy closing up behind it. Shiro and Lance were now by themselves, with damaged communication and an injured lion, to face the largest Galran cruiser Shiro had seen in a long time. 

He saw it before he felt it. The massive ship sent a cannon blast directly at the two lions now trying to evade fire. He saw the Blue Lion get hit first, immediately being rendered powerless. The next thing he knew, Black’s dashboard went entirely black and gravity began doing its job and the two robotic lions fell to the surface of the planet.


	5. The Pull on my Flesh is Just Too Strong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recommended Audio: Sincerely - Stephen

The first thing Shiro registered was a pounding headache right behind his eyes. He groaned inwardly as he began taking mental inventory of his body. He could move his toes, his flesh arm was still attached, the Galra arm was functional. It seemed to him that physically he was alright enough to push himself up and get moving to find Lance. He grunted as his foot snagged on something, and he turned around to see it was one of the flight sticks in Black. Only then did he realize the massive cat was on her side, and he was being pressed on both sides between the flight stick and the main dashboard. Without warning, pain flared to life on his right side as he attempted to move further upwards to dislodge. As his senses all came back to him, he bit back another cry as another futile attempt to free himself only resulted in a bitter agony flooding the right side of his ribcage. He figured a few ribs must be broken, or at least fractured, and prayed to God his lungs were left intact.

Knowing it was almost useless to keep trying, he started looking around the dark cockpit as his eyes adjusted to the sudden lack of light from Black shutting off. His helmet was off to the side, but, with the communications down, it wouldn’t do him any good, anyway. He noted a few dents and scratches on Black’s interior, as well as a large crack running down the right side of the windshield. Shiro knew then that the poor lion had shattered her right eye, likely as a result of crashing so hard onto the ground with her defense system offline. His only thought then was of Lance, and how the hell he was going to reach him when he had no access to the outside world and was stuck in his lion.

Meanwhile, said blue paladin was just coming to in his own cockpit. His eyes opened slowly, and he was met with a single blinking red light in the center of Blue’s windshield. He moaned under his breath with strain as he gingerly reached forward to press a finger against it. A small map of Blue’s malfunctions popped up in front of him, the red mixing with his blue surroundings to make a creepy purple that got under his skin. Aside from those warning lights, all was dark and quiet. Lance could feel Blue’s presence in his mind, reassuring him she would be alright if she were allowed to rest and heal herself. He sent back an apprehensive look through their link, and felt immediately as though she were his mother telling him to worry about himself.

“You’re the one that needs immediate help,” Lance muttered out loud. “Besides, if you know you’ll be ok, I need to go find Shiro.”

 _Black Paladin lives,_ Blue told him. _Do not go out._

“I have to, Blue,” Lance countered, almost comforted that his voice filled the crushing silence. “He may be alive now, but who knows what happened to Black? They didn’t fall on soft ground like you did.”

 _Wait until I heal,_ she pleaded. _I will take you. ___

____

____

“I appreciate the concern, girl,” Lance said. “But we both know I have to do this now before things have a chance to get worse.”

Blue simply sighed, and Lance could feel under his feet that her jaw was now open. He patted her dashboard, mentally thanking her and telling her to get better, and set off in full armor to find Shiro. Once he stepped foot outside, he was almost shocked to see how Earth-like this planet was. It felt as though he was trudging through snow, which is likely the reason Blue hadn’t been too damaged by the fall. His heart sank as he realized it was only convenience; Shiro and Black must have tumbled on the rocks that expanded in all directions around him. Lance assumed Blue had used the last of her power to steer them toward a safer landing sight, but Black must not have had anything online after she took the hit from the ion cannon. Speaking of which, Lance looked up to only see clear skies.

Did the Garla just want to separate Voltron and let the elements handle the rest? The paladin shivered at the thought. It gave him new incentive to find Shiro. He brought up the hologram map that showed where each lion was, and saw a purple diamond about a mile ahead of him. As he strained his eyes against the dark, starry sky, he could indeed see a patch of constellation that was abnormally blocked out. Activating his jetpack, he began making his way to Black.

As he did so, back in the larger winged lion, Shiro had given up expending valuable energy trying to escape. Now, as it did with almost all situations, his mind was in survival mode. Or, as the other paladins so lovingly called it, the I-don’t-feel-like-dying-in-a-massive-robotic-cat-today mode.Now he saw the accuracy of the nickname. He searched around for anything that could be used like a crowbar to jam under the broken control handle and shove it off of him. Who knew these damn things were so heavy when not being held up by electricity or quintessence or whatever it was they were powered by? He felt the edge beginning to press further into his left side, which only served to aggravate his right as it was pushed further into the dash’s edge. His searching, although he would never admit it, grew a bit more desperate. So much so, that, when a sudden light came into view, the surprise of something different in the environment caused Shiro to yelp in surprise.

He turned to be confronted with the glowing teal of a V coming toward him, as well as the same blue light illuminating Lance’s horrified face. Shiro knew it was bad, but obviously couldn’t twist around to see the full extent of the damage. It must be worse than he thought. Little to his knowledge, Lance was just taking in the sight of the leader of Voltron as he was crushed under the weight of Black’s interior. With her walls being black instead of blue, it was difficult to see around him, but the lights of his armor certainly helped. Shiro was bent at an angle that couldn’t have been comfortable or safe; one ankle was held back by the right flight stick, twisting his right leg to a degree that sent chills down Lance’s spine.

The left flight stick was snapped, the end digging into Shiro’s left side. Both of his arms, while not stuck, were very close to being pinned had Shiro been moved another inch to the right. What Shiro and Lance couldn’t see was the shard of broken glass protruding from the dashboard and cutting into the older man. Neither of them knew the extent of the blood loss until Lance crouched to Shiro’s level to speak, only for the lights of his armor to illuminate pools and splatters of fresh blood surrounding them, coating Black’s walls like a bad paint job.


	6. It Stifles the Choice and the Air in my Lungs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recommended audio: Here Come the Ravens - Aviators

“Sh-Shiro?”

The black paladin could clearly hear in Lance’s voice that he was close to losing it. Shiro watched Lance’s hands shake in front of him in the light of his armor as he knelt next to the older man. 

“Lance, listen,” Shiro said firmly. His order seemed to bring Lance back to himself. “You’ve got a better grasp at how the control stick is pinning me down. You need to try and move it so I can stand.”

Nodding shakily, Lance stood slowly so the teal armor lights had a chance to expand further. 

“I-it looks like it’s just the flight controls,” he stated.

“Good, good,” Shiro responded, his side beginning to go numb. “I can’t move, so you need to be the one to get it off.”

“What if I make it worse?” Lance fretted. His hands continued to shake.

“You won’t,” Shiro assured. “I trust you. I don’t care if I get hurt. I’d rather get bumped than die under this thing.”

Those words seemed to be so jarring to Lance that he snapped from his fearful stupor and crouched by the control stick. Looking at it up close, he saw that the wires and steel that was holding it to the floor had been crushed by force, likely from Black’s head smashing against the rock. He wrapped both hands around it, putting all his remaining energy into pulling it back, to no avail. The only thing he accomplished was jostling Shiro and hearing him cry out as the glass dug further into his ribcage.

“Sorry!” Lance hissed as he made to shove the stick the other direction. By the grace of Voltron it creaked against the floor and toppled, shaking Black’s cockpit with the force it took to smash into the ground. Shiro fell to the floor, immediately on edge by the wetness he was now lying in. Both he and Lance heard the telltale sounds of a chunk of glass hitting the floor behind the black paladin. Quickly, Lance grabbed Shiro under the arms and dragged him to a drier section of the cockpit, immediately focusing his armor lights on Shiro’s side. He nearly gagged at the sight of a rip almost as thick as his wrist lining the center of Shiro’s ribcage.

“Stay here,” he said, getting up to grab the medical kit each lion carried.

Shiro gave a weak laugh. “Don’t worry,” he huffed. “Won’t be going anywhere.”

“That isn’t funny,” Lance reprimanded, although Shiro knew he didn’t mean it and was likely trying to calm his own nerves. He winced as Lance began pressing gauze and bandages to the wound, breathing heavier than before. He knew if this bleeding didn’t stop, it wouldn’t end well, especially considering the wound was now open and bleeding freely.

“Hold that there,” he heard Lance order. He did as he was told, keeping the thick bandages pressed to his side with as much force as he could muster. Times like these made him almost glad for his Galra arm and its ability to remain strong when the rest of his body couldn’t. He closed his eyes against the burning sting that was now flooding his abdomen, barely noticing when Lance smeared antiseptic over the ripped skin. He grit his teeth against the new pain battering his system, clenching his fists. Through the pounding in his head and blood roaring in his ears, he could hear Lance’s quiet whispers of apology and panic. 

“We need to get you to Blue,” Lance said suddenly, speaking loudly enough that it clearly broke through Shiro’s haze. “She’s still got a little power. She can keep her interior warm.”

Now that Shiro focused on it, it really was quite cold in Black. He shivered subconsciously, which seemed to only reassure Lance that his decision was justified. With a bit of a struggle, they managed to reach a standing position that was good enough for walking the short distance to the blue lion. Shiro mentally assured Black that he would be back for her, and, despite her power being entirely wiped out, he could still feel a weak purr of understanding through the link. He allowed Lance to be his crutch, keeping his hand on the bandage that was now tightly wrapped and taped around his midsection. Lance had had to remove the top half of his armor to do so, and Shiro was wracked with shivers as the freezing temperatures of the nighttime, snowy planet hit him. His thin flight suit was absolutely inappropriate for this kind of weather.

Lance pressed against him, and Shiro heard an audible sigh of relief as they spotted the electric blue metal under a thin layer of snow. He wasn’t sure which one of them it came from. The blue lion looked battered and a bit worse for wear, but she opened her jaws for the two the moment they rounded the corner. After the teeth shut behind them, Shiro felt warmth against him and realized Blue had powered on her heating system. He mentally reminded himself to give her a full bath when they got her back to the castle. 

“Here,” Lance said, gesturing to one of the cots that he pulled from the cockpit wall. “Lie down.”

Shiro was more than happy to oblige. He grunted as pressure was put on his injury, but, with the new heat around him, he was beginning to feel lightheaded and comfortable. He felt as Lance hooked a few wires to his chest that attached to Blue, and heard a sound from her dashboard as his vitals popped up on her windscreen display. His ears picked up Lance sucking in a sharp breath before his exhaustion got the better of him.


	7. Better Not to Breathe Than to Breathe a Lie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recommended audio: My Way - any version

Pale grey eyes shifted open to blurry vision and the panicked stare of a brown-haired boy with tears in his eyes. 

“Shiro!” Lance cried. “Y-you weren’t breathing! I thought - … I thought…”

Shiro weakly reached out with his metal arm, resting his hand on Lance’s shoulder. Lance hated how shaky the grip was.

“Have you contacted the castle?” he asked.

Lance shook his head, standing. “They must be in a whole ‘nother galaxy at this rate. Who knows how far they can be shoved through a wormhole?”

Shiro closed his eyes again and groaned. “I’m sure they’ll be here soon, but we can’t stay in Blue forever.”

“I know,” Lance replied, his fear clearly in his voice. “We’ll run out of supplies eventually…”

Shiro sighed, and attempted to sit. He bit back a moan at the sharp sting that flooded his system. Keeping his left hand pressed to his ribs, he leaned back against the wall of Blue’s cockpit. 

“We should have enough food for a while,” Lance said from his chair. “I always keep extra because if I didn’t I’m sure the mice would get to it.”

Shiro managed a short laugh that quickly turned into a cough that shook his entire frame. “Of course you do,” he said once he’d caught his breath. He watched Lance duck under the dashboard, pulling out a box of miscellaneous food packets and leftovers that Shiro recognized from his visits to the kitchen to watch Hunk bake. Of course Lance kept extras of those meals, although Shiro wasn’t sure how he was keeping them from getting stale. To avoid a headache, he chalked it up to Blue’s normally cold interior working as a makeshift refrigerator. Lance brought over what appeared to be a granola bar of sorts. Whatever it was, Shiro was more than happy to take it. Lance sat next to him on the small cot, nibbling slowly at his own food bar.

“We’re going to be stuck here for a while…aren’t we?” he asked.

Shiro shook his head slowly. “It’s a possibility, but we can’t think that way. Allura and the others will come for us. I’m sure they’ve already locked onto Blue and Black’s signatures on this planet.”

“They could be blocked by the atmosphere or the Galra. There’s no way they could have just fled…not when two Voltron paladins are injured with powerless lions.”

Shiro despised the logic in that, but almost hated the realization more. The Galra hadn’t come for them yet. They had let the two sit here for hours now, and there were no sign of the fluffy cat aliens. He shuddered involuntarily at just what that might mean.

“We need to be prepared,” he said quietly.

“I know.”

“Which weapons do you have in Blue?”

Lance looked forlorn. “Just my bayard. Do you have anything extra in Black?”

Shiro thought for a moment. “Maybe a sword of some sort, but I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to get back in her until she powers back up. With the damage she sustained, that could take hours.”

Lance stayed ominously silent. Shiro glanced over at him, and noticed the younger was purposefully avoiding his gaze. “Something’s wrong,” he said eventually, pointing out the obvious.

Lance flinched. Shiro felt ice in his veins.

“What happened to Black?”

“Shiro, you shouldn’t be worry - ”

“Lance,” Shiro interrupted, his leader voice coming out clearly. “I need to see her. I need to assess her damage now that the light is coming back.”

Looking out of Blue’s eyes, Lance saw that morning indeed was beginning to creep in. “Shiro,” he countered. “You’re in no condition to walk, let alone take inventory of everything wrong with a lion. You nearly bled out before I freed you from that flight stick.”

“Then help me,” Shiro pleaded. “Please, Lance.”

“Shiro…I - ”

“This is not a request,” Shiro hissed, his eyes hardening. 

Lance sighed, resigned. “Ok.”

Awkwardly, the two managed to stand well enough for Shiro to lean nearly all of his weight on Lance, heavily favoring his left side. They crawled from Blue’s jaws, giving Shiro a better look at the landscape in the morning light. It reminded him a bit of Keith’s desert home, and he could see nothing but light blue sand and deep misted mountains for miles. If they were here under any other circumstance, he would have taken a few moments to stop and admire the planet, but he didn’t have that luxury. His lion was suffering. Lance guided him in the direction of a large mass blocking out the rising sun.

The Black Lion was coated in a sheen layer of blue sand, but it wouldn’t be an overly daunting task to clean her off at the castle. Once they reached her front side, Lance heard Shiro’s harsh intake of breath as the horror slowly set in.

“Black…” he murmured. He hardly heard anything back, but the small wisp of her presence was still there. She hadn’t begun to repair herself, and Shiro knew that meant nothing good.

Black’s side was scuffed, large scratches clearing a path through her glossy black metal. One paw was bent at a strange angle, and Shiro could see a few feet off a large indent in the Earth, likely caused by Black smashing into the ground and rolling. He guessed that was where her paw hit. Her lower half seemed more or less intact, but the front half of her magnificent body was beaten and battered. As Shiro scanned his way up her torso, he felt the urge to be sick. It only seemed to be getting worse as he went along, as Black had landed virtually face-first into rock. What scared Shiro the most was the knowledge that rocks had never been an issue before. The lions had fallen on worse surfaces than this and survived, so what happened here?

Before he could think too far into that question, his eyes landed on her head and he fell to the ground to proceed to be sick, as he’d predicted. He felt Lance’s hand gently rest on his shoulder, and his chest screamed in pain almost as loud as his anguish for his lion. Black’s left eye was shattered, and the outer glass was nearly non-existent. Her nose had the largest tear of any of the ones that littered her body, and it sliced vertically through as though a large razor had been used instead the surface of a planet. Both front paws were smashed in various places and dislocated in others. But the worst was her muzzle.

The lower half of her jaw was hanging by a thread. Entirely dislocated from the upper half of her head, it lie crumpled and crushed with broken metal and a disgusting connotation that when she’d hit the ground, Shiro had been flung so violently due to her lower jaw coming unhinged and nearly being crushed entirely under her weight. Shiro, on all fours, lowered his head to the soft sand.

It was in that moment that Lance realized he had never before seen Shiro cry.


	8. When I Open my Body and Breathe Alive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recommended audio: Ivan Torrent - Dandelion

Shiro, with Lance’s help, limped slowly closer to Black’s mangled jaw. Through their mental link, he heard her pained groan as she desperately attempted to come online. Never in his life had Shiro heard anything so earth shattering. Placing his hand in a particularly rough dent, he felt tears sliding down his face as Lance braced his shoulder, a constant presence. The blue paladin allowed Shiro to take his time as they entered beneath Black’s jaw to reach behind her cockpit. It looked as though an explosion had gone off inside her, sending the supplies, blankets, and food rations to the floor. Shiro thanked the entire Altean race that none of the food boxes had opened and spilled, and he and Lance began the long process of carrying them from Black over to Blue.

According to Lance, Blue was functional enough to provide basic oxygen and life support, but they would have to do the rest. Carrying the boxes of supplies took both of them and frequent breaks to let Shiro rest, and nearly an entire day had gone by before they finally packed up in Blue for the night. Lance sat at the control console, and Shiro saw his face contort as he spoke with Blue. The Cuban turned back to him after a few moments, and sat by him on the small cot each lion had in their cockpits’ rear. 

“She says she has enough energy to move over to Black,” Lance began. “It just means it’ll take her a few extra days to repair herself than it normally would.”

Shiro stayed silent. He didn’t want Blue to exert energy she didn’t really have, but he also wanted to jump up and scream at her to move to her sister and keep her safe. Lance sighed before standing and making his way back to his chair. Without warning, the lion’s body rocked from side to side and shivered as Blue stood on shaky metal legs. Shiro felt under him that her legs were moving methodically and felt each small jolt as paws hit the earth. Blue was moving, and she was nearing the crater where Black had landed.

“She’s happy to do it, y’know,” Lance said, interrupting Shiro’s thoughts. “She wants to be by Black too.”

Shiro stayed silent, letting Lance talk. His voice was calming, much like the oceans he talked about.

“I’m sure I’d feel the same way she does if my brother Marco got hurt,” Lance continued. “He and I were always the closest of my siblings. He turned out to be a wicked soccer player, and would constantly ask me to play with him even after he almost broke my ankle by sliding across the grass directly into my leg. Mama made him lighten up after that.” Lance gave a small chuckle. “Gotta love the big bros.”

Lance fell into a wistful silence as Blue slowly made her way to Black, walking clearly draining her of strength. Shiro admired this lion with every fiber of his being.

“I never had a brother,” Shiro said quietly. Lance looked back as though shocked he’d said anything at all, but then turned to the dashboard again as he listened. “I had two sisters,” Shiro murmured. “Himari and Jazmine. I never played soccer, but I did learn how to properly apply quite a bit of makeup after the many makeovers Himari would subject me to.”

It took almost all of Lance’s willpower not to point to Shiro’s eyeliner and shout that he called it.

“We had to rely on each other,” Shiro said sadly, his tone darkening. “My father was…not a father to me. He was no honorable husband. Jazmine, Himari and I were his main targets once we were born, and my mother could only ever slide by and stop him from hurting us by the skin of her nose. There were too many close calls, and Mama sent Himari and Jazmine to live with my grandfather. They were happy there.”

Silence rang throughout the cockpit as Blue reached her destination and, exhausted, fell to the ground in a heap next to Black’s corpse. Both Shiro and Lance heard her moan of despair after seeing Black’s state. Lance let her rest, moving to sit by Shiro again as Blue’s eyes went dark and the world outside was shrouded in black. “Guess we could’ve waited to transport everything until the lions were close to each other, huh?” he said in a feeble attempt to lighten the mood.

Shiro laughed lightly until a resonating pain stabbed in his side. He groaned in distress, clinging to his ribcage. Looking down, he saw blood seeping from the bandages Lance had applied. A cold settled in his gut as he realized the danger he was in. Not only could this easily get infected with some space bacteria he didn’t know about, but an excess of blood loss could easily mean Lance would be taking a body back to the castle. As he thought this, he felt Lance laying him on his side on the small bunk, unwrapping the gauze and grabbing a salve that stung like the devil but ultimately reduced the swelling. 

“Shiro,” Lance began. “What if the castle can’t find us? The Galra are probably still in the atmosphere waiting for us to die so they can take the lions with ease.”

Shiro’s blood felt like ice as he caught the truth of that statement. Now that he thought about it, it was exceedingly strange to him that no purple aliens had come aboard the injured and weakened lions. He almost preferred an ambush. At least then they weren’t sitting ducks and could actually do something about fighting back and getting home.

“They’ll find us,” Shiro muttered weakly. “I know they will.”

Lance looked unsure. “What if they’re too late?”

Shiro reached out and placed a hand gently on the boy’s. “We’re going to be fine.” Lance’s hand felt so warm against his. Shiro noticed it was smooth and unblemished, much unlike his that were calloused and scarred. He tightened his grip, unsure as to why Lance seemed to be such a soothing presence. Lance squeezed back, sitting on the floor and leaning his back on the cot. 

“Blue says she can keep us warm for the night,” Lance said. “It’ll keep you from getting sick on top of everything else.”

“Tell her I appreciate it,” Shiro replied, finally beginning to give in to his weariness.

“Shiro?” Lance asked after a few moments of silence. Shiro grunted in response. “Please tell me you’ll wake up…”

Shiro opened an eye and was met with the scared tears on Lance’s cheeks. “I promise, kiddo,” he said. “It’ll take more than this to take me out.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. In fact - ” Shiro cut himself off as he forced his aching body back against the cool cockpit walls. He lifted the other end of the blanket as high as his arm could manage, beckoning Lance to join him. 

“I won’t fit, Shiro,” Lance scolded, a small smile on his face.

Shiro didn’t budge.

Lance rolled his eyes. “Fine,” he said as he shimmied under the thin blanket. The cot was so little that his chest was flush against Shiro’s and he could feel the older man’s heartbeat reverberating through his own chest. He heard it begin to slow as Shiro fell into a deep sleep, and Blue purred reassurances in his mind that she would be ok. Warm and content, Lance wrapped an arm around Shiro and slept.


	9. I Will Not Speak of Your Sin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recommended audio: LAYTO - Little Poor Me

Shiro awoke to the feeling of being prodded in the cheek. Groaning lightly, he shifted his head to see the frantic face of Lance in front of him.

“Shiro,” Lance whispered. “You need to stay silent but you need to move.”

“Lance?” Shiro whispered back. “What’s going on?”

Lance placed a hand on his side to avoid Shiro jumping up, but held it there to assist in turning him on his side. His blue armour was on, and his bayard was out.

“The Galra,” he hissed. “They found us. They picked up on the Blue Lion’s signature. I don’t know how they didn’t manage to do it before, but they’ll be here any minute.”

Shiro then moved Lance’s hand, sitting up gingerly. Lance began giving him his armour piece by piece, cringing outwardly each time his hand brushed against something red and dry. Shiro’s side screamed as he added more pieces and bent and twisted in order to secure them on the flight suit he was sleeping in. He figured his jaw would be sore tomorrow with how hard he was clenching his teeth to stop any noises from escaping. He would tell that Lance was trying not to panic, but at the same time had the desperate look in his eyes that told Shiro he didn’t want to rush him but they needed to move.

Shiro stood and gripped his injured side, his arm emitting a faint purple glow in the darkness around them as it powered to life. According to Blue’s eyes, night had fallen. Lance grabbed Shiro’s hand and led him out of the cockpit. They slowly made their way out of the lion’s jaw behind her large teeth, using the dark as cover as they shut off the teal lights of their armour. Shiro forced himself to move quickly, despite his wound’s protests. Groaning swears under his breath, he followed Lance as they trekked as far from Blue’s mouth as they could. They began hearing the sound of pounding footsteps as they reached her hind paws,and resolved themselves to keeping hidden for the time being in the shadows of the metal structure. This solution wasn’t anywhere near a good one, but it would give them time to come up with some sort of plan.

“It doesn’t sound like there are many of them,” Lance whispered. “I’ll take out as many as I can before they reach us.”

Shiro nodded. “I’ll take care of the close range,” he agreed.

“Can your side handle that?”

“It’ll have to.”

The two paladins moved to defensive stances, with Lance further back and to the side enough to see any oncoming enemies. Shiro jumped as the first blue flash sent bullets toward an approaching mass of Galrans. His arm powered up, sending a purple haze through the night and turning the blue sand a strange indigo. He counted around seven soldiers coming toward them, but he knew that even seven wasn’t anything to mess with. Lance was valiant, and almost disturbingly accurate with his aim. 

But it wasn’t enough to hold all of them off. Galrans were tricky little bastards, and could withstand multiple shots before ultimately going down. Before long, Shiro found himself grappling with sharp claws and flying fur. The lights given off by armour and his prosthetic blazed around them, and he saw Lance switching his bayard to a small blue dagger. The boy was definitely holding his own, and Shiro was confident he would be ok for the time being. Besides, he had to worry about the fact that a soldier had just thrust its talons into his side wound.

Shiro _screamed._

He heard Lance’s sharp cry of despair as he saw what became of his leader, and felt through the ground that the blue paladin was desperately fighting and clamouring to get to Shiro. The Japanese man forced his torso upward, throwing off the Galra pinning him down and blasting his arm through the abdomen. He hated the disgusting squelch that resounded and echoed around them. Ripping his now blood-covered arm from the body, he whipped around to see Lance’s bayard lying on the ground. It felt as though antifreeze flooded his system as he saw Lance being dragged by two of the soldiers back to the Galra cruiser waiting in front of Blue’s nose.

Shiro pushed off the sand, sprinting with all of his remaining strength to Lance and tackling the Galra on the right to the ground. Powering up his arm, he reached it back to administer a killing blow before feeling a burn on his left shoulder. Fire was racing through his muscles, rendering the arm entirely useless as the flames licked further into his core. He cried out, weakening and allowing the Galran to flip them over and shackle his wrists to his back. The prosthetic was dark now, Shiro not having the necessary power to keep it active.

“Originally we just wanted the blue one,” the cat alien hissed in his ear. “But you’ll do nicely too. Haggar will be happy to know we’re bringing back her Champion.”

__________

 

Lance’s head was pounding as he slowly opened his eyes. Glancing around, he saw a small dimming floodlight that cast an eerie white glow around the concrete cell floor he was lying on. Maneuvering his body up to a sitting position, he glanced back and saw chains keeping him by the back wall. Leave it to the Galra to be original. As Lance’s consciousness came back fully, he noticed a lack of a certain black paladin. He frowned in concern, assessing the rest of the situation. He most likely had a severely injured wrist, if the flaring pulses were anything to go by, and possibly a concussion. He hoped the latter wasn’t true, since he wasn’t exactly the most medically-savvy paladin.

He attempted to move to his knees, but the short chains kept him from leaning any higher than cross-legged against the dark metal. He huffed in frustration. Looking down, he saw he was wearing the prisoner outfit Shiro had been found in all those months ago. He stuck his nose up in distaste, purple really not being his color. He didn’t want to think of how many prisoners died in this specific uniform, and tried not to focus on what he new was dried blood covering the back of the lighter garment. 

He stretched his shoulders back in an attempt to loosen his still joints, but it did nothing. As he thought to himself that he was thoroughly fucked, heavy footsteps approached the cell door. He cringed at the loud, shrill squeak that resounded around him as the guard opened the gate.

“Little DD40 should fix that right up for ya,” Lance said sarcastically, already done.

The Galran glared at him.

“Hey man,” Lance went on. “Just tryna’ help.”

The alien came toward him, and Lance had just enough will power to shut the hell up. Yellow eyes burned into blue, and without warning Lance was yanked from the wall. The Galran grabbed at the loose chains and began dragging the paladin out of the room.

“I can walk, y’know,” Lance hissed.

“Not for long.”

Lance’s teeth chattered as a shiver ran through him. Still, he was slightly enjoying seeing the Galran squirm.

“Is that a promise or a threat?” Lance asked cheekily.

The Galran stopped. “Your voice is irritating,” he snarled, turning to look at Lance.

“Thank you,” Lance replied simply.

Lance had no preparation for the steel-toed boot that rammed into his side, probably bruising a kidney, and the breath came rushing out of him in an instant. The Galran continued walking and Lance didn’t try to speak any more, now much more focused on where the hell he was being taken.


	10. There Was No Way Out for Him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recommended audio: Under the Water - AURORA

“Allura, have we repaired the teladuv in the castle?”

The princess turned to Keith, standing at her post in the control room. “Unfortunately not,” she murmured. “Coran is working on it now. The damage it took from being hit point blank will take much longer than we thought to fix.”

“There has to be a way to at least wormhole closer to that planet!” Keith cried. “Shiro and Lance are down there!”

“I know, Keith,” Allura said. “But we cannot afford to wormhole even a small bit. Who knows how many Galra are waiting for us in that planet’s atmosphere? If the castle is out of power, we have no hopes of making it out unscathed.”

“Shiro and Lance might have it worse!” Keith replied. “The Galra must have captured them by now, and we can’t just leave them!”

“We will not leave them helpless,” Allura said definitively. “Coran is working day and night to repair the glass plates needed to travel that far of a distance. I will alert you paladins immediately when that moment comes. Until then, Pidge and Hunk are working on a device to help navigate the planet further while not having up to date information.”

“How can you be so nonchalant?” Keith growled. “Our family is down there!”

“I am not uncaring!” Allura shouted back suddenly. Keith flinched before he could help himself. “I know how it is to lose your family,” Allura muttered, looking forward to her small star map with a distant expression. “I will not let it happen again. I will give my life before I allow either Shiro or Lance to be killed.”

Keith had the respect to stay silent, knowing she was right. “Sorry,” he mumbled quietly. “I know how hard it is for you. I’m just worried.”

“I know you are,” Allura said, closing her eyes. “You have every right to be. It was not right for me to snap at you.”

Even as she said that, Keith noticed the unmistakable hitch in her voice and the almost invisible clench of her hands. Without replying, he made his way up the small steps to stand beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder awkwardly. She sniffed, and he stiffened. He’d seen Shiro cry once or twice, but he had no idea how to handle a woman crying. He decided to leave it to instinct and let her take the lead, letting her lean on him as she cried for their lost paladins.

________

Shiro woke up entirely confused as to why it felt like he was in a sauna. Sweat poured down his temples, and he made to brush it away, but found he was unable to move his arms.

“He wakes.”

His eyes swiveled almost painfully upward toward the source of the voice, seeing a bone-thin Galra staring back at him. Her ears were shredded to pieces, and she was missing patches of fur. One eye was gone, and replaced with an eyepatch as a crude coverup. Shiro gulped subconsciously. He tried to open his mouth to ask who she was and what he was doing here, but discovered quickly it sent waves of pain across his face.

“I wouldn’t try that if I were you,” the Galran murmured. She reached a hand down, touching his cheek in a disgusting mockery of being gentle. “With what you’re injected with, any movement is going to be excruciating.”

Shiro turned his eyebrows upward, trying to ignore the sting it caused.

“Eiletoxa,” she said, as if that word meant anything to Shiro. “It’s a type of slow-working poison. It’ll cause pain to any extremity that attempts to make movement, as it targets the second layer of skin. It’ll wear off, but not quickly enough for you, I’m sure.”

Shiro grit his teeth, moving as little as possible. He hated being vulnerable in front of this creature, but he couldn’t deny the severity of the pain coursing through him with each heartbeat. His neck especially felt like fire due to his jugular pulsing with each beat. He wanted nothing more than to clench his fists for a distraction, but found it entirely useless. His right arm had been forcefully powered off, and his left was racked with agony. The Galran grinned.

“Maybe we’ll throw you back into the arena with this shit in your veins,” she snarled. Shiro’s eyes widened, pinpricks of pain traveling to his temples at the movement.

“While we wait,” the Galran went on, moving around the room to mess with knobs and buttons, none of which comforted the black paladin. “We should have some fun.” She pulled out a large needle from inside a sterile drawer, testing on her finger how sharp it was. Approaching Shiro, she brought it up to his neck, and Shiro felt the poke as it made contact with skin.

“Ahdi, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” a new voice shouted. Ahdi jerked away from Shiro, hiding the syringe behind her almost comically. The newcomer wasn’t convinced or impressed.

“Put that back,” she growled in a low voice. Once in Shiro’s line of sight, he saw she was a darker purple hue than Ahdi, with two large ears and a silver mohawk of sorts running down her neck and starting on the top of her nose. Her canines stuck out from her lip, and her broad shoulders made Shiro want to shiver. “You know she wants him alive and strong, you idiot.”

Ahdi looked almost guilty, averting her eyes from the new Galran’s.

“Ahdi,” the new one hissed. “What did you do?”

“Nothing, Kajfra,” Ahdi murmured. “I was ordered to keep him here. I figured if he could not move, he could not leave.”

“The fuck was in that syringe?!” Kajfra yowled, making Shiro flinch and grit his teeth against the pain.

“A tiny dose of Eilatoxa, it’s nothing to poof your tail over!” Ahdi yelled back, clenching her fist around the needle. “It would have been fun to see what a full dose would have done to him!”

Shiro tried not to think about it.

“He’s human, you imbecile!” Kajfra snarled. “It’s more potent than it is on us! His system is small and weak! You have no idea how much damage you could have caused him!”

“How was I supposed to know?!” Ahdi countered back. “No one told me anything! I was only supposed to watch him!”

They stopped their screaming match as a male Galran entered the room. “That’s enough!” he hissed. Grabbing Ahdi by the arm, he yanked her out of the room as she kicked and screeched, spouting words that Shiro didn’t really want to know the translation of. Next to him, Kajfra let out a sigh, shaking her head slowly as she looked back down to him.

“The Eilatoxa will wear off,” she said gruffly. “Don’t move until it does. Ahdi is a fool. All she has done is delayed the operation.”

Shiro simply blinked.

“In any case, I shall return soon,” Kajfra muttered, shutting off the industrial lights that had been blinding Shiro, leaving him to try and desperately blink away the green hues left behind as he fought back against the scream in his throat. He heard the door at his feet open, close, and lock with a sickening click. He breathed slowly, assessing his situation. As his brain caught up, he began to piece the events together chronologically. Somehow, he had been brought to this room; this table. Ahdi had injected him with poison, which she should not have. Kajfra was a superior, and she had just left him alone.

Shiro decided being alone was worse.

Everything was dark with those lights off, and Shiro was incredibly put off by it. His fingers twitched involuntarily, sending waves of fiery pain up his arms. Damn this Eilatoxa. He found that the most manageable movement he could do right now was rotate his eyes in their sockets. It proved pointless, of course, as he was surrounded by a soul - encompassing darkness. He finally gave in to the fact that he should just lie back, try to relax as much as possible, and wait.

He was left with his thoughts, overwhelmed by the thought of Lance.


	11. The Mirror Shows Not

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Recommended audio: Two Steps from Hell - El Dorado

As much as he didn’t want to admit it, Lance was afraid of the dark. His brother, Marco, had instilled a deep nervousness when Lance was young. He would sit in their shared room and wait for Lance to get home from school to jump out from under the covers and scare the pants off his little brother. Ever since then, Lance found himself wary of dark spaces, as though Marco would be waiting in the corner to freak him out. Right now, of course, was no exception. It wasn’t Marco he was afraid of this time, but the Galrans that pulled him to this cell in the first place. Of course he would never admit it out loud, but the idea of seeing them again made his blood run cold. He didn’t know what they wanted, and he really wasn’t keen on finding out.

His main goal right now was escaping and finding Shiro.

Lance pulled at the chains binding his wrists together, testing the length he had to walk away from where they were attached to the wall. He surprised himself when he was able to nearly reach the metal door. If he laid on the floor and stretched, his feet may even reach the small sliver of purple light shining from underneath. Lance hated purple. The blue paladin shifted backward so he could have enough chain to properly stand. He felt the ceiling of the cell brush the tips of his hair, and couldn’t force down the shudder at the intense claustrophobia that pulsed through him.

Pushing the fear down, he began a mantra in his head, asking himself what Shiro would do in this scenario. He would most likely assess, then act. So, Lance began walking around his cell, counting the number of steps it took to reach the far wall. After about five rounds of double checking his number, he settled on the length of his prison being about twenty steps. The width, or, at least, how far the chain would let him go perpendicular to the back wall, was about fifteen steps. Ultimately, not as small as he originally thought, but certainly not ideal.

According to what he could feel, he was dressed in a thin bodysuit with extra cloth over his torso. The top piece was ripped at the bottom, and the sleeves of the under-suit were destroyed up to the elbows. It hit Lance then that he was wearing a Galran prisoner outfit, and, likely, not a fresh one. He chose to ignore the faint stench of copper.

The silence was overpowering. Lance took to tapping his foot against the floor to the beat of an old Hawaiian song he heard Hunk humming to himself in the Garrison enough times to have memorized. The thought of Hunk was comforting, but reminded Lance harshly of the lack of food in the tiny enclosure. What he wouldn’t give even for the Paladins’ Breakfast.

A few moments later, his thoughts were interrupted by a loud, jarring metal screech as the cell door opened. Dim violet washed over Lance, causing him to blink away the lack of pitch blackness his eyes had gotten used to. The silhouettes of two large Galra stood in the doorway, and the blue paladin knew he only had seconds to assess what was going on. He flicked his gaze to the belts they wore, noting the small pistols that hung from each side. As his arm was grabbed, he saw multiple knives of all shapes and sizes as well. He wasn’t Keith, but he hoped he’d know instinctively how to use them when the time came. Now, however, was the opportunity to observe.

“Come,” the larger Galra hissed. His voice was like poison honey, sending chills down Lance’s spine. 

“Where?” Lance squeaked, unnerved enough not to try and think up some witty quip.

“You’ll see soon enough,” the cat growled, grinning from ear to ear. The other soldier behind Lance pushed him forward with the gun against his spine. Lance’s shaky legs began moving forward, having a fair amount of difficulty not collapsing from fear. He swallowed dryly.

Winding halls and bright purple lights disoriented Lance to the point that he didn’t have any idea how long the three had been walking, much less where in the hell he was. After what Lance could only assume was about five minutes or so, the Galra in front of him stopped, causing Lance to nearly bump into him. Opening large steel doors with a crank, the creature behind Lance pushed the muzzle of the pistol harder into his back, shoving Lance forward into the dark room. The doors shut with a thundering bang behind him. As he looked around and tried to get used to being in the dark once more, he heard shuffling and grunting in the corners of the room.

“Hello?” he called softly.

He was met with a frightened gasp.

“I’m not here to hurt you,” Lance assured. “Where am I? Who are you?”

“You are…human,” a raspy voice responded.

“Y-yes,” Lance replied. “I’m a paladin of Voltron.”

Whoever or whatever had spoken shuffled forward and Lance noticed she vaguely resembled a coyote. Metal glinted from her body, making Lance question if she was some kind of android.

“Voltron?” she asked quietly, coming up to the paladin. Up close, Lance saw she was thin and looked ill.

“Yes,” he said. “I’m sure Voltron is on its way. I can get you guys out of here when they arrive.”

Expecting relieved sighs, Lance was confused when the coyote, as well as the other surrounding prisoners, backed away from him, the coyote shaking her head. 

“They cannot help us,” a voice called from the dark.

“What do you mean?” Lance asked, slowly sitting on the concrete floor. Through it, he could feel as her cybernetic paws padded around the room. 

“No one has been able to before,” she murmured. “Many have tried, all have failed.” The soft whispers soon faded into silence as the feelings of despair hung heavy like a blanket. Lance swallowed nervously.

“Wh-what do they do to you here?” he questioned, hating the shake in his voice.

“They send us to fight,” another voice cut in before the coyote could answer. The creature that came forth looked surprisingly human, simply with antennae and a long spiked tail. “We have lost many.”

“What do you mean fight?”

Before Lance could receive an answer, the back cage door opened with a screech. Each prisoner backed away quickly, leaving Lance, confused, blinking in the sudden glaring light.

“You. Human.” A raspy voice snarled.

Lance was tugged to his feet, the claws around his bicep digging into his skin. His sense of balance was thrown completely off when he was physically tossed onto a hard, sandy surface. Crouching on all fours and spitting sand, he shook the fog from his head as the same screech sounded behind him. The door had closed, trapping Lance in this hellish landscape. Finally turning his eyes upward, Lance saw he was kneeling in a large sandy area only broken up by four large steel pillars holding up what looked like a clear forcefield of some sort. His blood ran cold.

Across the arena, the same screech of a cell door sounded, quickly giving way to silence as onlookers grinned in anticipation. Standing on shaking legs, Lance stepped between two of the pillars in order to gain a better grasp of what he was up against.


	12. Your Values are all Shot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Recommended audio: Broken Elegance - Restless

Lance was faced with the largest beast he’d ever seen that wasn’t a Robeast or the Balmera. Large and furry, it had the appearance of a love child between the Cheshire cat and a gecko dipped in radioactive biohazard. Lance’s spine was immediately chilled by the grin it wore, its eyes gazing into the paladin’s soul. The thin clothing covering Lance’s shoulders gave away how much he was shaking, despite doing his best to keep his face and posture composed. He held the weapon given to him in both hands, although he knew its weight wouldn’t do much to help him. Breathing heavily, the Cheshire bounded forward toward Lance, shocking him out of his awe. Ducking, he rolled on the sand and scrambled to get back up as the creature backpedals and twisted in a way that no animal should be able to. It’s spine looked as though it were made of liquid, allowing it to move however fast and however agile it wanted. Lance braced his feet, one against a pillar behind him, raising his weapon to his chest in a defensive stance as the creature barreled toward him yet again, head down and grin wide.

It felt like a freight train as it slammed into Lance’s chest, the weapon seemingly not affecting it at all. The blade dug into its shoulder with a horrible squelch, making Lance flinch despite himself. Growing desperate, Lance pushed back with the energy he could find by using his foot as leverage, shoving the creature to the side and yanking the blade out of it. Gripping it tighter, he nearly dropped it when the handle grew slippery. The creature stood again, although this time its gait was wobbly and uncertain. It eyed Lance now with wary eyes, realizing he could defend himself if need be.

Lance, panting, felt his heart racing. Running out of energy in his lion was one thing, but here he was forced to rely on training and focus on breathing as much as he could. He and the creature circled each other slowly, both growling under their breath. Lance’s muscles tensed, preparing for the inevitable impact when he was rushed yet again. Barely lifting the weapon in time, he only nicked the Cheshire’s face as it predicted his movements and ducked at the last moment. What Lance had not anticipated was the jaws of the creature to open, showing rows of sharpened teeth, and clamp down on his upper leg. 

Lance screeched, jerking back instinctively and driving the dagger-like canines deeper into his flesh. Purely running on fight-or-flight, he raised the weapon as high as he could force his arms, bringing it down immediately on the back of the creature’s neck.

The creature yowled, opening its maw and releasing Lance’s leg. As the paladin fell back and began frantically moving backward, the Cheshire crumpled, falling limp and dead on the sand as its blood flooded the arena. Lance found his breath coming in short gasps as he watched the lifeforce drain from the wound he’d inflicted. The Galrans sitting in the stands were going wild, and Lance couldn’t hear any of what the announcer was saying over the ringing in his ears. The next thing he knew, his vision was fading from pain and fatigue as two soldiers came in to grab him under the arms and drag him back into the hallway. Turning his head, he saw the coyote creature and her group watching him go by with a sad yet knowing look in her eyes. 

It felt as though it was only a moment later when he was blinking his eyes open wearily, lightly blinded by harsh white and violet light directly above him.

“He wakes,” an unfamiliar voice rasped. Lance immediately shivered.

“Good,” a female voice answered. “Summon Haggar.”

Lance’s blood ran cold.

“Yes, Kajfra.”

The female Galra, Kajfra, puttered around the small room, moving things and inspecting instruments. She glanced down at Lance, narrowing her eyes.

“You are human, yes?”

Lance, not expecting to be spoken to, much less asked a question, opened his mouth and closed it.

“You are,” Kajfra muttered. “The other did the same when I first saw him.”

Lance’s eyes widened, and he tried to speak. He found he couldn’t open his lips and his vocal cords refused to listen to his brain’s commands. 

“Don’t try to speak,” she continued. “You’ve been given a physical sedative. You’re aware, but effectively paralyzed.” At Lance’s sudden panicked look, she added: “You can breathe, don’t worry. We’ve got a breathing apparatus put in your lungs for the time being. Wouldn’t do us any good to have you die on the table before Haggar even gets here.”

The moment she said that Lance saw a flash of dark purple and black in the center of the room and, despite not being able to feel his limbs, felt the shock of a sudden temperature decrease around him.

“The Blue Paladin.”

Lance shut his eyes tight as though this were some sort of terrible dream that he could wake up from. He wanted to scream when he felt Haggar’s hands on the sides of his head.

“You’ll do just fine,” she said. Lance could physically hear the grin in her voice. “He’s been administered the drug?”

“Yes, Haggar,” the female voice said.

“Good.”

Lance felt the hands leave his face and heard Haggar’s cloak swishing across the floor. He knew she had gone when the temperature rose and more bustling began around him. Although he couldn’t feel his limbs, he noticed a slight pressure on the leg that had been wounded and he couldn’t help feeling a bit grateful that he couldn’t feel it directly.

“I know you think you can’t feel much,” the Kajfra said suddenly, bringing Lance out of his stupor. “But this is gonna hurt.”

Before Lance could even try to process what that meant, the pressure against his upper thigh increased and began feeling hot. Too hot. _Much too hot, oh God._ Lance thought he wasn’t supposed to feel anything! The deeper the heat went, the more he realized the paralyzing effect of whatever drug he’d been given didn’t permeate all the way through and the pain was starting to reach nerves that were still entirely functioning. He couldn’t help the groan that left his throat as his vision started fading in and out. He thought he heard Kajfra giving him small words of encouragement for a moment, but it must have just been the haze of agony making Lance hear things. Before he could think further, his eyes closed and he knew no more.

_____

Shiro was panicking. He’d awoken back in his cell, alone. He felt the last traces of Eilotoxin in his system as pins and needles raced through his body slowly. Propping himself up on his elbows for a moment, he looked around to take note of his surroundings. It was dark, cold, and he was hungry.

Wonderful.

Lowering himself again and gritting his teeth against the small shocks of pain racking his system, he wondered where Lance could have been taken and how he would get to him. Despite how advanced the Galra had become, the soldiers they sent to check on him once every hour were slightly less than intelligent, only doing their job and shoving a food tray under the door. Shiro despised the “food” they gave him but knew it was worth it to stomach it so he would have the necessary strength to escape and rescue himself and Lance. For now, however, he was content to rest and purge the final toxins from his system. It would give him time to think and plan.


	13. But oh, my Heart was Flawed

Shiro’s heart was pounding in his chest. Judging by the number of times food had been given to him, almost two days had passed. He hoped the Galra didn’t suddenly switch up prisoner protocol, as two days was pushing it as far as how long he wanted to wait and observe without making a move. He was beginning to go stir-crazy, having paced the length of his cell more times than he could keep track of. He rarely slept, although that wasn’t necessarily anything new. Ever since he’d found his way back to Voltron, his headaches kept him up at night. He had attempted a few times to use his hand either to burn through the bars of the sorry excuse of a window or destroy the back wall. Neither worked, as he quickly found out they’d disabled the power he held somehow.

His only thought now was on Lance. Had he been subjected to the Eilatoxin? He thought he heard screaming, but in this place that wasn’t exactly a rarity and the man tried to convince himself that it didn’t sound familiar. His physical helplessness gnawed at him, tearing him from the inside out. He found himself resolving to throw his body against the cell door, snarling and glaring daggers at any guard that passed. In the back of his mind, he wondered to himself why he was being so reckless, but his thoughts of worry toward Lance blocked them out each time.

Between fitful sleep and scattered “meals,” Shiro sat in the back of his cell and plotted. His hand was disabled, so it would be of no use to him aside from a blunt object. Luckily, his Garrison training didn’t take into account a glowing, burning arm as a benefit in training. Even if Voltron training sessions did, he was sure to also practice with his arm tied behind his back in order to prepare for situations such as these. He never thought he’d praise the day Allura made them practice extra.

_________

It took ages, it seemed, for the next round of food to come. If Shiro’s internal clock was correct, three days had passed since he and Lance were caught and separated. That was far too long. His legs were beginning to grow stiff from crouching near the door opposite of where the guard would be approaching. They always came in from the left, meaning Shiro could easily keep himself hidden enough to the right. The moment the food slot opened, his metallic arm shot out at a speed that put bullets to shame. Clutching the Galra’s arm with intense ferocity, he began squeezing. He listened and felt for the telltale crunch of bone under his fingers as he increased pressure on the creature’s wrist.

The hair on his neck rose at the sharp screech the Galra let out as his wrist was broken, shouting profanities in Galran that Shiro only had a vague recollection of translation for. 

“Tell me where the blue paladin is, and I’ll release my hand!” Shiro growled.

“Never!” the soldier hissed back.

Shiro increased the pressure against the furry wrist in his grasp. “Tell me!”

Red overtook his vision as the soldier refused again. He pulled at the wrist, seemingly disconnecting from his own body. He thought he heard someone calling his name, but it was drowned out by the roaring of blood in his ears. The next thing he knew, things were quiet. The cell was dark, and he felt wetness against his arms. Looking down, he saw the telltale deep maroon lit up by the purple lights of the hallway. Backing away from the now almost unrecognizable arm, his eyes widened as he realized he didn’t remember the past couple of minutes. 

Having blacked out, he didn’t remember crushing the guard’s skull against the door from the inside. Before he could help himself, he leaned over and vomited, stomach acid mixing with the bloodstains that now covered the floor.

_______

Lance had always been a light sleeper. Having grown up in a large family, he couldn’t afford to sleep in too late. If you didn’t eat quick, you didn’t eat. Therefore, it was no surprise when he awoke exhausted. Groaning in pain under his breath, he tried to lift himself with his elbows but couldn’t find the strength to do so. Without warning, a burning agony flooded his system, starting at his thigh and running up the length of his torso.

“I wouldn’t move just yet,” a voice said suddenly, slightly drawing Lance out of his misery. The same female Galra as before stood over him, a holo-pad in her hand. 

All Lance could do was aim a questioning glare her way.

Kajfra grinned. “Haggar really had a go at you, huh?”

Lance’s blood ran cold.

“You were out for a good day or so,” the Galra went on. “After your modification, Haggar made sure to implant a bit of permanent Eilatoxin into your leg.”

The blue paladin could do nothing more than stare with wide eyes. Modification? Kajfra must have seen the question in the way his face scrunched in thought, as she put the holo-pad down and crouched next to him as he stared at her from the uncomfortable cot. 

“Listen, kiddo,” she began. “I know all of this sucks ass right now. I know it hurts. But you’ll learn to block it out. You’ll learn to get used to the modifications we gave you. You’ll learn to please Haggar.”

Lance’s eyebrows furrowed, now having more questions than answers.

The woman’s eyes widened. “Oh, you have no idea, do you?” Her eyes seemed to soften. “Look down.”

Lance didn’t want to, but he forced the painful movement of his neck, directing his eyes downward. Where his leg was, he saw an angry red scar running up to his hip. Where the agony in his thigh began, the thigh itself ended. Briefly, he saw the creature tearing into his leg and remembered it going numb for a while. Now he knew why.

In its place lay a silver, metallic, mechanical leg.


	14. I Knew my Weakness

Lance felt numb. He knew he should feel shocked, maybe angry. It was as if his brain didn’t have the capacity anymore for those emotions. Perhaps he was trying to shelter himself from further mental strain, but whatever the case was, he felt as though he was looking down upon himself. No longer was he in his body...his now broken, dismembered body. He found himself trying to move his mechanical toes, but they wouldn’t budge.

“It has yet to be calibrated to your nervous system,” Kajfra said. Why did she sound apologetic?

Lance turned to look at her slowly, his eyes wide and slightly distant. The Galran woman sighed. Lance thought he could almost see a hint of remorse in the gaze she sent back at him, but it was gone before he could be sure. She stood, leaning over to rest her mauve hand on the metal. Lance didn’t feel it. He did, however, feel the exact moment he began shaking against his will.

“Once it’s been connected to your brainwaves,” Kajfra began. “It’ll move as a normal leg should. It will, of course, have enhancements. Speed, flexibility, leaping…”

Her voice faded out as Lance’s eyesight began drifting. Black appeared around the edges as he fought to keep breathing and stay conscious. He couldn’t pinpoint why. Without warning, something that smelled unnatural and strange was pressed against his mouth. Sucking in a deep breath, he could taste a small hint of a metallic substance. As his sight returned slowly, he saw that Kajfra had placed a metallic inhaler to his face. When she felt Lance had enough, she pulled it away and put it back on the small operating table next to her. Lance’s eyes followed its movements, and he nearly gagged when he noticed traces of deep red on the utensil tray.

“Can’t have you passing out on me,” Kajfra said.

“Why…?” was all Lance was able to get out.

The woman crouched next to his head to be at his eye level. “Listen, kid,” she said. “That Durhyai got your leg pretty good. If Haggar didn’t get to it first, it would have had to be removed anyway.” She lowered herself to sit on the ground. “Thing is, you’re what she wants. I don’t know why, and I don’t want to know; it’s not my problem. My job is to watch you and your friend and make sure neither of you makes a break for it.”

“Shiro?” Lance said immediately. “He’s here? He’s alive?”

“Here? Yes,” Kajfra replied. “Alive? I can’t say. Haven’t seen him for the past few days. I saved him from that dumbass Ahdi that flooded his system with Eilotoxin.”

Lance lifted a brow in confusion.

“Ahdi’s a new recruit,” Kajfra explained. “If you ask me, she’s a fuckin’ moron, but she does her job well enough that she sticks around. But ‘Shiro,’ as you call him, was moved to the south complex, last I heard.” She smirked. “Not that you’ll be able to do anything about that; until your leg gets activated, you’re a sitting duck and my company for the foreseeable future.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?” Lance demanded.

“Come on, boy. Do you really think I’ve got anything better to do?” Kajfra hissed. “This stuff is vague, anyway. You’d’ve figured it out on your own in due time, but I’ll get bored of dancing around the subject of the metal attached to you. I’m saving myself time more than anything.”

Lance huffed, turning his head to look at the ceiling as he let his torso fall back onto the table. “Why did you say Shiro’s name as if you’ve never heard it before? What did you mean by ‘as you call him’?”

Kajfra stayed silent. Lance once again turned his eyes to her, instantly unnerved by the unblinking stare she was aiming his way.

“Don’t ask questions you can’t - ”

Before she could finish, a loud and distant bang was heard. At first, Lance thought it was an explosion but quickly dismissed that thought. If it were, he would smell smoke. Kajfra shot to her feet in an instant, pressing a silver button to her right before snagging a sword Lance hadn’t noticed next to the sliding door and standing to attention directly facing the hallway. She was guarding his room.

Lance, seeing this as his chance to at least look around, if not escape, began scanning. Nothing seemed useful to him. His bayard was gone, as well as his armour, and his black tracksuit would do nothing for him in the way of defense. Not only that but, if what Kajfra said was true, he couldn’t move to begin with, let alone run or fight. With that realization, Lance looked downward to finally take in the sight of his new leg.

It was made of solid metal, resembling Shiro’s arm uncannily well. Most of it was silver and muted grey, but had careful lines of purple running the length of it, almost like paths of electricity were flowing through the leg itself. Lying down didn’t give the best angle to analyze it, but Lance guessed that, when he stood, it would look a bit like the hind leg of a cat if the feline were standing on its back paws. The “ankle” was higher than his normal leg’s, and there seemed to be compression points indicated by tiny connection beams that ran from his knee to the top of his shin. The paladin found himself slightly grateful that the structure of the leg and foot were as close to accurate as they could be when compared to his natural leg. At least he still had a foot, he supposed. Overall it looked disastrously out of place, and terrifyingly similar to Shiro’s arm. As much as he found it to be badass on the body of his hero, he could never see himself with such a prosthetic.

Lance leaned his head back against the sorry excuse of a pillow under his neck and tried desperately to ignore the burning itch and the creeping, dull ache in his thigh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance's prosthetic is very loosely based off of: https://hardcore-gamer.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2016/08/cover-art-valley.jpg


	15. So Hold My Hand

Lance began to smell smoke as Kajfra started to grow frantic. Her ears twitched back and forth and Lance could tell even from where he was lying down that her muscles were tense. Once again, to no avail, he tried moving his leg. Just as it fell back on the table, Kajfra hissed in what Lance guessed was surprise before she was thrown across the room. Unfazed, she stood upright and rushed forward at a sudden second blur. Claws flew and the sound of faint electricity sparked throughout the room. When they sprang away from each other, Lance’s eyes widened as he saw Shiro standing next to him, his Galra arm activated.

____

3 MINUTES EARLIER

Shiro had literal blood on his hands. The dead Galra soldier lay at the floor of his cell, blood pooling from his throat. As the black paladin slowly came to, he noticed a bright shine coming from the soldier’s belt. Disgusted at how blood was smeared on everything he touched, Shiro reached out to grab the set of what he hoped was keys. Extending his fingers as far as they could possibly go, he was frustratingly inches from them. Sighing internally, he hesitantly grabbed onto the bloodied uniform collar around the soldier’s neck, pulling the body closer. Gagging at the wet feeling now covering his hand, he snagged the keys and pulled. He thanked any god listening that they came off easily and quickly.

Reaching around the cell door, Shiro jammed the key into the lock and slowly opened the door enough to slip out. Keeping close to the walls, he hurriedly made his way through the winding hallway, listening closely to the soldiers investigating the one he’d killed. No doubt they were now on high alert and searching for him. He desperately hoped they hadn’t gotten smarter since the last time he had to escape a Galra ship.

His first priority was now finding Lance.

His heart fluttering, he stealthily flew through the corridors, searching for any sign that another human had been taken nearby. Rounding another corner slowly and carefully, he saw the shadow of a soldier cast onto the far wall from the light of a room. Shiro would never forget the color of the surgical lights and bounded forward in a panic. Reaching his hand back, he used every bit of force to bring it down on the soldier’s large fluffy ear, cuffing it roughly. His foot, already poised, struck her in the belly, sending her crashing across the room. Shaking her head, she pulled a dagger from her belt and leaped forward. Already anticipating the offensive maneuver, Shiro raised his Galra arm to take the brunt of the downward momentum. Grunting at the powerful contact of the knife to metal, the man pushed his arm forward to throw the soldier off balance before jumping away like a feline to catch his breath. Turning to the small table next to him, his heart stopped as he saw Lance staring back at him with wide eyes.

Before he had time to really register what he was seeing, the Galra swung out of nowhere, swiping a deep slice into Shiro’s cheek. Part of the new wound crossed the edge of the already existing scar across his face, making him cry out as a fire burned up the bridge of his nose. Defensively, he latched onto the soldier chestplate and pushed her into the far wall.

“Shiro!”

The black paladin stopped after hearing Lance call out, frozen. The Galra soldier, taking advantage of his pause, slipped out of his grip and flipped away from him, standing defensively.

“Shiro?”

Shiro came back to himself quickly, rushing to Lance’s side while keeping a close eye on the Galra now watching the exchange.

“Lance, we need to go,” he said, a desperate tone in his voice.

“I-...I can’t…” Lance answered.

“What do you mean?” Shiro asked. “Are you hurt?”

“It’s his leg.” The unfamiliar voice was coming from the Galra soldier. Shiro whipped his head around, teeth bared defensively.

“Shiro, it’s ok,” Lance said in an attempt to diffuse the situation before it started.

Moments before any of them could react any further, a massive blast blinded them. Shiro hovered over Lance’s body protectively as Kajfra huffed in frustration. Racing out to the hallway, she was immediately blindsided and knocked back by an unseen force. As Shiro and Lance strained their eyes to try and see what was coming, they heard familiar voices calling out to them.

“Shiro! Lance! Where are you?”

“Keith?” Shiro called. 

Said red paladin poked his head through the door, immediately rushing to Shiro’s side. “Shiro, we don’t have much time. We need to go, now.”

Lance piped up quickly. “Shiro- I can’t-”

“Can’t what, Lance?” Keith questioned.

“I can’t walk!”

“What do you mean, you can’t walk?”

“I’m missing-”

“That’s enough!” Shiro interjected. “Lance, I’ll carry you. Let’s go!”

The split-second Lance was lifted, another flash of light burst through the doorway. Before he could process any of what was happening, Shiro and Lance had gone. Left with a searing pain in the leg he thought he wasn’t supposed to feel, he opened his mouth to cry out before it his lungs were filled with smoke -

___

\- and awoke on a hard floor. He sat up in a blind panic to be met with cold paws on his chest gently pushing him back down.

“Nightmare.”

Shaking his head a bit, Lance came back from the uncontrolled chaos of his inner mind to see the coyote creature from before standing over him.

“You have awoken. No fear now.”

“Wh-...who- where am I?” Lance said, his voice sounding alien in the silence, as though he shouldn’t be talking. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he saw he was around the same group of diverse creatures as the last time he’d been about to be sent into the arena.

“Breathe. You are safe for now.”

Lance sighed, taking as much breath in as he could before letting it out in a shaky exhale. The small canine, now seeing he had regained composure, backed up to lie down with her comrades. Lance was left alone in the corner to breathe heavily and vow to not fall back asleep that night.


End file.
